Stock Upgrades: Meet Stifel Financial in St. Louis

Wall Street ratings agencies set the tone for today's stock market.

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Equities have thus far been on a record run in 2013 but, as any student of stock market history can tell you, after the bubble always comes the Baath. The Dow (INDEXDJX:.DJI), now down in eight of the past 10 sessions, tumbled to a two-month low amid an increasingly scary situation in Syria. Commodities were a clear beneficiary, with bullion now officially in a bull market from its June swoon after adding on another 2%. (They will find this all a bit bizarre in the great bazaar of Damascus, where gold has been sold for some 5,000 years.) With such an ancient history, the Middle East has always taken the long-term view. As they say in Afghanistan, "The West has all the watches, but we have all the time." Maybe, but Movado (NYSE:MOV) did just jump 10.50% to an all-time peak. Elsewhere Abercrombie & Fitch (NYSE:ANF) fell a further 4.76%, closely followed by a 4.56% plunge in Chloraseptic and Luden's cough drops parent Prestige Brands (NYSE:PBH). For the contentious CEO of the clothing company, the corpulent lassie - if not yet singing - is clearly starting to clear her throat.

Delhaize Group (NYSE:DEG): Citigroup boosts the Belgium-based grocer to Buy from Neutral, sending its stock up ahead of the opening bell.

Old National Bancorp (NASDAQ:ONB): Shares are moved to Outperform from Market Perform at FIG Partners.

Statoil (NYSE:STO): The Norwegian energy giant, whose shares are sharply higher ahead of the open, is now Buy from Neutral at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. Shares are surging some 3% as a result of the broker boost.

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